Glacier Park facilities close too soon

I am writing to you to report that Bette Wasik and I had a fantastic and exhilarating visit to Glacier Park, yet a very disappointing one.

It was fantastic and exhilarating because of the awesome scenery, the animals, the lakes and the mountain atmosphere in general. But it was disappointing because of your early closures and premature termination of various activities.

What was extremely disappointing to us — and I suspect many other visitors — were the closures and termination of various activities that occurred immediately upon the end of the Labor Day weekend.

Those closures and terminations indicate that you are discriminating against retired senior citizens and older workers who no longer have school children at home. That’s because many in this growing and quite large group of citizens purposely delay touring until after the summer and holiday crowds. And we are among the many who delay touring for that reason.

We have no problem with the partial closures at Two Medicine, St. Mary and Rising Sun campgrounds. Plenty of spaces still were available to accommodate the visitors to the park a week after Labor Day weekend. And we must laud you for the service provided over the Internet on the status of campgrounds in the park.

We originally planned our visit to the park the week of Sept. 15 through the 23rd. But in browsing the park Web site, I learned that all but one of the three or four campgrounds we were planning to visit would be completely closed that week.

So we rescheduled our vacation a week earlier — Sept. 8-16. But we had no knowledge that various ranger programs and boat tours would no longer be offered.

To point out how busy the park was while we were there, the parking lot at the Logan Pass Visitor Center was filled on Monday, Sept. 10. And a sign was posted outside the parking lot, stating that visitors could expect as much as a 30-minute wait to get a parking space.

Despite how busy the park was, I suspect that many visitors ended their park visit early as a result of the terminations. I know we did.

The visitors that we saw at the Logan Pass center and in the Two Medicine and Apgar campgrounds were older people like us.

Finally, I’m wondering what effect the early terminations might have had on the economy of Northwest Montana and Montana in general. Touring older people tend to have more time and more money to spend than families with young children.

We don’t expect the Park to operate full blast until the Going to the Sun Road is closed by snow in mid- or late-October. But I do believe that we older citizens deserve and should be able to expect a bit more consideration by having all Glacier Park activities available to us through the second or third week after Labor Day.

I am well aware that the Park is faced with budgetary constraints, and that is one of several reasons why I am sending copies of this letter to Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester as well as Congressman Dennis Rehberg.

I hope that these issues — quite important to older citizens and park area businesses — will receive more consideration in future closure decisions.

Darrell E. Berkheimer is a resident of Butte.

U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq

As a veteran of the Iraq war I’ve paid close attention to the words of General Petraeus this week, and I’ve considered the local impacts on cities and towns across Montana if the war in Iraq is provided more funding yet again this fall. Montanans have honored their country and answered the call to service in Iraq, but an irresponsible foreign policy in Iraq fails to honor Montana’s soldiers. It’s time for our congressional delegation to stand up to President Bush.

Senators Tester and Baucus have worked alongside Congressman Rehberg to make some positive choices for Montana, including their latest decision to support uninsured children in Montana by committing to reauthorize the CHIP program. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to meet the needs of Montana when President Bush’s national priority is to continue the failed war in Iraq. The President is currently threatening to veto bipartisan legislation that would support the CHIP program. A veto would leave 13,000 more children without health insurance while the President continues to spend billions of our tax dollars weekly in Iraq.

As a gunner on the streets of Baghdad, I have seen first hand what the U.S. is and is not accomplishing in Iraq. The reasons I was given for going to Iraq in the first place have either been accomplished (removing Saddam and family from power) or were never truly a threat to begin with (weapons of mass destruction). We are now stuck in the middle of Iraq’s civil war with no foreseeable way out.

Since returning home I’ve realized that the values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, for which I fought in Iraq are being disrespected here at home. CHIP reauthorization could insure an additional 16,000 children in Montana. Yet, the national priority of our Commander in Chief is to deepen the war in Iraq at the expense of CHIP and other programs. Clearly, most Americans prefer a national priority of insuring our children and educating our youth.

I walked the streets of Baghdad after the U.S. invasion and it was clear to me that most of my neighbors at home want the same thing that the average Baghdadi wants: the freedom to determine their future without worry for the health and safety of their family. This goal cannot be achieved for most Iraqis, nor a great many Americans, while the United States is interfering with Iraqi affairs. Simply, American and Iraqi people stand to lose more than they will ever gain if our elected representatives in Washington D.C. fund this failed war toward a sixth year.

Thankfully, many Americans are beginning to speak up, and so are many Montanans. In June, the city-county council in Butte voted to bring our troops home and provide them with increased healthcare services. This November, the citizens of Helena and Missoula will be voting on referenda to bring our troops home safely from Iraq. Citizens in Bozeman have also begun to work with their city commission on a similar resolution.

It’s clear that Montana cities and towns are feeling the impacts of this war. After all, 21 Montanans have been killed and 220 have been wounded since the war began. The cost of the war to Montana taxpayers has reached over $690 million according to the National Priorities Project. Many Montana cities and towns rely on federal funding that is currently being diverted to a failed war that the majority of Americans oppose. It makes sense to me that Montana cities and towns are beginning to say no to this war and I hope our congressional delegation does the same very soon.

As a veteran who has served this country on the front lines in Iraq, I urge Max Baucus, Jon Tester, and Denny Rehberg to make Montana their national priority and fund a full redeployment of our troops out of Iraq and back to their homes across this great nation.

Casey Elder lives in Bozeman. She served with the Montana Army National Guard from 2001 until 2007. She was deployed to Baghdad from May 2003 until May 2004.

Our post office closes

To the editor,

Our post office is being closed here in Martin City, due to the fact that our postmistress has worked for them for 14 years and has not had a raise in seven years.

We had a meeting tonight (Sept. 26) in Martin City and the powers that be said a post office was not economically feasible. Even after the fact that from their own Web site they had a revenue of $72.65 billion with operating expenses of $966 million and a net profit of $900 million.

The postmistress here in Martin City’s bid was $20,930.04 and all her overhead came out of that, including workers comp, wages, heat, electricity, phone and rent on the building. According to the postal services own regulations, they are required to give 60 days notice to the public. We got two days notice! This could happen to you.

Kim E. Lietz

Martin City